I've added Gurren Laggan to the list of Anime I've seen, and I have to say I was furious at them for what happened to Kamina. He was almost a typical macho over the top character until you saw all the layers in him. I really loved seeing Simon grow, and how the two mantras of the series are how fighting spirit (aka never giving up) and love are the forces that change the world. Didn't expect a mecha series to have meaningful stuff, but it did. I didn't like any of the female characters, though.

"I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:37-40).Exceptionally Ordinary"No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else." P.T.Barnam

LOL, so that hairball thing is actually real??? And ah, so that's where
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Lucifer has been... And yikes-- while
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: El indeed doesn't trust
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Gabriel one bit, it looks like he just went off the deep end in a whole other direction... (Though not in too bad of a way, so long as he listens to those around him...) LOL though, that was waaaaay too easy for
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: El to get out. ...And then, of course, there's the elephant in the room: Uggghhhhh, so they actually *are* going down the route I'd really hoped they wouldn't -- that is,
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Nina x Charioce. I mean, for one thing, the 'relationship' is exceedingly unhealthy (not necessarily in terms of how he treats her {well, as "Chris," anyway-- that is, if he really isn't lying or planning to use her in the end, which still remains to be seen}, but in his personality/'convictions'/etc. and how he treats literally everyone else). And for another, I absolutely cannot understand Charioce's characterization at all-- there's seriously *no* way to reconcile
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: the crap he does as "king" with his "Chris" persona now that it's basically been confirmed that it's *not* a split personality (...and I am *NOT* buying that 'explanation' of his-- I cannot imagine *any* scenario {not even an apocalyptic one!} where anything he's done as "king" could ever be sufficiently excusable, no less the super-confusingly schizo way he's going about it. There's just no possible way that a person without a split personality can do the horrific things that he's done to countless living beings and then act like he did in this episode unless he's a complete psychopath... and, y'know, that's pretty clearly not a good choice in romance, despite what the show seems to be trying to push {unless the other person in the relationship is psycho as well, of course , but Nina isn't}... so if he ends up being written that way, then the writing will have failed on multiple levels ). Plus, the whole
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: "Whoa, I can suddenly and inexplicably control my dragon powers now, must've been because we kissed?" bit wasn't good writing, either. (Also, if the show doesn't address the fact that
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Favaro was supposed to be following Nina in the next ep., all I can do is just LOL and then facepalm. )

TL;DR: Having absolutely loved S1 and the two connecting OVA's, and with this season having an even higher budget than S1 as well as a nice, breathable two-cour runtime, I'd had high hopes for this, and had indeed been pretty much loving it until now; however, it seems that the writing is now faltering in the latter of its two cours, which makes me sad. I still don't have it in me to dislike this season, but I really hope it gets back on track...

Ep. 18: Okay, so they did finally get back around to Favaro keeping an eye on Nina. (Oh man, though... he really did
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: love Amira-- he's still thinking about her, even 10 years later. <3 </3 <3 And the little talk Favaro had with Nina was great. Hopefully she'll think over what he said. (EDIT after watching the next ep.: ...And nope, all that wisdom of Favaro's was very unfortunately wasted, because she clearly didn't think about it at all. ) And Azazel's emotions-- and the scene between him and Mugaro... so sweet. <3 Ep. 19 was really annoying again though, with the seen-coming-from-about-100-miles-away 'dumping' + Nina protecting Charioce even still (seriously, girl? The dude has committed *ACTUAL ATROCITIES,* and he sure isn't going to stop now. Couldn't she have just settled for Favaro taking Charioce's arm off? Or even taking it herself if she was that worried? Really not that hard of a decision, TBH... )-- but at least Favaro knew what was most likely coming there, which (combined with that
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: punch ) kept it from being *completely* intolerable, LOL (...well, that and the fact that apparently even the nobles hate Charioce because they all just stood around and watched with metaphorical popcorn in hand as he was almost killed, LOL ). ...In all seriousness, I wouldn't have a problem with how this whole plotline is going down if there was actually some consistency in Charioce's characterization-- in other words,
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: if he really did do all that on purpose just to use her, or if he's a true psychopath. Unfortunately, however, that's not what the writers seem to be implying-- instead, it seems like they're *attempting* to somehow play all this off as him just being an antihero or whatever (for a supposed reason/cause that *still* hasn't been explained; but TBH I don't even really expect one at this point, no less for it to be anywhere near a logical and sufficient reason when they finally do 'reveal' it, if ever ), complete with the obvious 'push the other character away by hurting them even though you don't actually mean it' cliché (which doesn't even make any sense here). There's just no possible way I'm gonna buy any 'redemption' of his character at this point, no matter how hard they try to sell it; so when it's obvious that's what they're trying to do, it gets real irritating real fast. And as for ep. 20: Welp, that was actually a really good fight, if short (I especially liked the teamwork between Favaro + Kaisar and Azazel + Sofiel {though unwillingly done by those latter two, despite being a surprisingly good match-up }), but most of the rest felt a bit like filler except for some of the stuff with Mugaro (that line of Bacchus' about Mugaro being a gift rather than a pawn in a plan was beautiful <3 , more sweetness with him and Azazel, and even showing that some of Nina's cheerfulness might have always been a façade {though that's a bit too little too late, there}). That said, the after-credits scene was... well, in a way it was predictable, yet... something about the culmination of that whole thread felt off.
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I mean, yeah, Alessand has pretty much always been annoying , and the whole betrayal thing was already set up with him trying to join the Onyx guys before; but IDK, it just felt like there wasn't enough real buildup to it or something. It's hard to describe. (Also, if any of the characters {other than perhaps Sofiel, I suppose} blames Azazel in any way for that incident, I will rant even harder about inconsistent characterization, because
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: even Jeanne apparently understands how much Azazel and Mugaro care about each other. )

...Ah well, at least all the snarky reviews and comments that the show's unfortunate, slow derailment has spawned have been amusing...?

WHAT. THE. GENUINE. HECK????? I mean, this had obviously been slowly turning into a complete trainwreck for a number of episodes now, but unfortunately it has somehow turned out even worse than projected.

...Okay, first things first, ep. 21: Gotta admit, I wasn't expecting Mugaro to
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: apparently be *truly* dead here (though I do still have a sneaking suspicion that it may yet be reversed, because, y'know, imagery and all that. Plus, they didn't bury him...). On the good side, that opening sequence was very effective, and no one even considered blaming
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Azazel, even before Favaro mentioned who he saw running away from the scene. On the bad side, though... uh, literally everything else? (For example: If it was that simple to
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: reinstate Jeanne's powers, why the heck hadn't they done so sooner? And that's just one of many eyeroll-inducing elements here.)

And then came the episodes that truly evoked that opening exclamation of disbelief-- 22-23: First things first, wow, Nina's character writing really sucks. Even with all that motivation, plus obviously having the king completely at her mercy, she not only couldn't finish him off, she *still* couldn't even just merely take his *arm*! (And keeps on forgiving him later on, too. What the heck, girl?? I mean, I'm all for forgiveness, but this is beyond the point of genuine mental problems now. If the writers were going for the sort of supremely unhealthy, defensive and enabling mental issues that cause some criminals' partners to stick with them against all reason in RL, they sure nailed the dynamic ; however, the problem is that they seem to be trying to frame it differently than that, and that just flies in the face of all logic.) And Favaro's dialogue there made no sense, either (since the king actually *DID* order that stuff {whether he 'meant it' or not }, and had obviously *already* 'picked a fight with the gods' multiple times {plus, y'know... actual genocide??? }). Second things second, in what flaming universe does it make *any* sense-- in terms of either his already-established characterization or even just simple logic-- for
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Kaisar to not only defend the king verbally at this point, but also to go so far as to actually sacrifice his very life to save him??!!! I mean, sure, fine, Kaisar probably just saved them from Bahamut or whatever (despite that actually being the king's fault in the first place ), but the problem is that Kaisar actually didn't even know that Bahamut had been released at the time that he did it, which just means it makes even *less* sense! I seriously cannot even, here. And third things third, the 'explanation' for the king's plan was completely bogus (which I sadly expected, but it was actually even worse than I thought it would be). Obviously it was always going to have something to do with
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Bahamut returning (since its name is right in the title of the show, after all); but the way the king went about everything he did for this supposed cause was utterly illogical (and that's putting it mildly). There was literally no freaking reason for him to have committed *any* of the atrocities that he did (aside from being a psychopath, of course; but if he is, then he's a very poorly-written one {actually he's just plain poorly-written anyway, but I digress...}), since none of that had anything to do with
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: getting rid of Bahamut whatsoever!! (Even supposedly getting the 'forbidden technology' by murdering the gods made no sense, since the king and his Onyx Knights were actually somehow already *USING* said tech to do so in that old flashback. Paradox much? ...And then there's the whole thing with the demons, which was just plain brutality for brutality's sake {and don't even get me started again on the schizo way *that* whole thing was portrayed}. And worst of all is that all of that stuff just made
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: defeating Bahamut for good-- the supposed goal-- even less likely, since
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: all three races had to work together to even just seal it last time, no less kill it outright!) Plus, the king even basically admitted that it was just
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: revenge for his mother! And yet, the way this is framed, it's obvious that for some bizarre reason the writers were actually trying to make the audience have *sympathy* for this guy, *and* also buy that this somehow made up for everything else (...Newsflash: It doesn't! Not in a million years!)-- an idea which would be hilarious due to its sheer idiocy if it wasn't so downright baffling (and infuriating). This whole plotline is so ridiculously, facepalmingly stupid that I'm having a hard time even mustering up the willpower to explain in detail just how stupid it is. (And that's not even all of it! ) Literally the only possible silver lining there could be to this crap would be the *slight* possibility that
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Rita will reanimate Kaisar as a fellow sentient zombie and then they can finally be a couple; however, given the way the writers of this second season have 'handled' things so far, I wouldn't be surprised if they just
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: leave him pointlessly dead.

.........I need to go rewatch the actually-excellent Genesis now to cleanse my mind of this awful 'sequel.' (And it's not even over yet, OTL... )

Rage Of Bahamut: Virgin Soul ep. 24 (end {finally }):.........Welp, so in the end, *IT WAS LITERALLY ALL FOR NOTHING!!!!!!!!!*

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Mugaro/El remained anticlimactically dead despite seemingly being set up for much more; Jeanne and Azazel's plotlines (and characters) just fade into obscurity for some reason, with no resolution; Kaisar's reanimation as a zombie isn't even satisfying because he still looks quite blank, so it's very unclear whether or not he's even truly conscious or if he's just another one of the mindless corpses controlled by Rita (!); and aside from the (honestly very minor) loss of voice and sight, respectively, Nina (wbo by her own words chose the king over her own family, 'friends,' and the entire world) and the (inexplicably STILL-INSTATED) king get off scot-free (and apparently continue their unhealthy yet bizarrely 'romanticized' 'relationship,' too, of course ), with the people even hailing as a 'hero' the dude they originally (and rightfully) despised! (And the gods and demons just roll with it and forgive the humans, too {at least enough to work with them amicably}? No way that would ever happen so soon {if at all}!) And then, just to add the worst possible insult to the (already-mortal) injury, THE FREAKING CANNON DIDN'T EVEN DO THE ONE THING THEY WERE 'SUPPOSEDLY' TRYING TO DO WITH IT-- BAHAMUT *ISN'T* DEAD!!!!! So (along with all the other awful writing!) not only did that still never explain any the horrific stuff the king had done in the first place, it was also all literally pointless!!! ...But, uh, all hail the pointlessly-genocidal psychopathic schizo dictator king, I guess??Thesepostsexplaintheawfulnessevenbetter (minor language warning).

I seriously cannot even. What a complete waste of a show (and my time!).

...TL;DR: Forget this ever existed and just watch the first season ("Genesis," which was written by someone else and was actually great), please.

These were worth every second of their three-minute-each lengths. They were both sweet and unexpectedly hilarious (that misunderstanding in the first ep... And Grossular's
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: deadpan one-liners... ) Definitely recommended alongside the main series!

Chihayafuru (both seasons) (sub, complete):

Who knew that a show about a competitive card game based on ancient poetry could be so addicting? (...Well, actually me, LOL , because I've read and watched many manga and anime that make things I wouldn't or hadn't previously found interesting in RL very interesting indeed in story form, so I really wasn't surprised at all that this did the same for karuta. Still, one wouldn't ordinarily find that premise very interesting in and of itself, so it's great to see how involving this show really is. )

I will note that it's not quite as serious in some places as I expected it to be (for example, all the one-off/side characters are pretty much just quirky for quirkiness' sake , and it's just kinda odd when every single one-off character is so darn weird, LOL ); however, all the main characters are great, and their character- and skill-development (both respectively and as a group) is done quite well.

In terms of adaptation, the anime did rearrange the order of some of the scenes and flashbacks (though actually quite well, I thought), and there was some (mostly) minor streamlining (though something they cut out that I thought they probably shouldn't have were a couple little scenes with the current Meijin that kinda explained his character a little bit more; but it's not really a big deal). Also, S2 has a bit more flashback repetition and still shots, and also doesn't really 'end,' LOL.

That said, overall I really enjoyed this, and I'm quite looking forward to seeing where it goes next in the (still ongoing) manga!

Welp, watching this was an... *interesting* experience. On the good side: That 'dango family' song is darn catchy; Nagisa's parents are the absolute best <3 , and I was so pleased to see a true family unit like that in anime for once (complete with how they extended that to the MC, etc.); the depictions of how having a kid can totally change your life and heart were spot-on; and both the stage performance ep.'s and the mini-story with the cat were beautiful. On the bad side, though, well... pretty much everything else? (...A near-blasphemous statement, I know. )

I'm quite serious, though. In terms of directing, tone, pacing, tightness of plot (or rather the complete lack thereof, in this case! ), and the integration of the routes (at least as far as I could tell), Clannad wasn't anywhere near as good as the other Key adaptations I've seen. (Kanon (2006) even did the
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: soul-out-of-body coma patient plotline way better, on top of it all!) Plus the humor fell pretty flat for me a lot of the time in Clannad, too (well, except with *some* of Tomoya's trolling and Nagisa's downright awesome parents ). To be frank, it was actually outright *boring* much of the time. That said, I knew even before watching this that the real meat of this series was supposed to be After Story, so I didn't really mind being patient with it... until I finally got to After Story and discovered that most of *that* was only marginally better. For one thing, it uses one of the tropes I dislike the most in any form of fiction. For another, it doesn't really feel all that romantic even once the MC's are actually married and Nagisa boldly asks for a kid (...seriously, when a minor side character and
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: her *cat*-- who show up for a mere two episodes, no less-- are literally more romantic than the actual main characters ever are over the course of four entire cours, you might have a bit of a problem there...... ). Worst of all, it literally took until freakin' episode 17 of the second season-- that's a total of *40* episodes of patience, folks!! -- until it actually got truly 'good' (...unlike the other Key adaptations I watched, which IMO were all pretty darn great right off the bat)... and then, to add insult to injury, the very last ep. really dropped the orb ball on explaining the trademark 'miracle' (again, as opposed to the other adaptations). Like, I understood the whole thing with
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: the other-possible-worlds/side-world + the feeling-orbs occasionally granting wishes if 'captured' + one of said orbs having been unwittingly captured inside Tomoya and thus granting his wish at the end, obviously; however, what the genuine heck was up with
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Ushio herself somehow being the granter of the wishes or the personification/'heart' of the city or something (???), and then still showing back up in the real world (despite *also* having outright said that she was about to become 'not human,' and couldn't ever leave that side-world anyway)?? Plus, how the heck could *Nagisa* of all people have that memory of the side-world if it was only ever just Ushio and Tomoya there? That just plain made no sense whatsoever. (Also, the editing kinda nosedived in the finale, too, because everything in that particular ep. was too disjointed + sped through too quickly to have much emotional impact in comparison to the several episodes previous.)

I mean, maybe it's all the hype/'classic' status this always (supposedly) had, and/or maybe I was just spoiled by watching Kanon (2006) and Little Busters! first before this, but... overall, both of those were *way* better than even After Story, IMO. Seriously-- Clannad was... *okay,* but I wouldn't watch it again; whereas, with Kanon and Little Busters!, I definitely *would.*

...So, uh, yeah, not really sure why this is considered to be like some supposed masterpiece of anime, when there are not only way better (*actual* masterpiece!) anime out there, but even way better Key adaptations......

I'd been intending to watch + read this for a long time, and finally just got around to it. And ohhh man, was it excellent! It's a josei comprised of the love of music (particularly of the jazz variety) and love between people (in all forms, though particularly with deep friendship first and foremost plus some romance for good measure )-- so how could I not fall in love with it myself? <3

Aside from the last episode (which I'll get to in a moment), most of the characters feel real (both in terms of their personalities and actions as well as their actual body language {and instrument-playing, of course}); the period and setting (as this story is supposed to take place in the 1960's) is well-realized; all of the music feels *amazingly* expressive, and actually downright *alive* (indeed, far more so than I've ever seen/heard in an anime before! And it was apparently done as actual live jam sessions when it was recorded, too, hence why it feels like it's really living and breathing); and the faith of several characters (Ritsuko is a practicing Catholic, and another character even ends up
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: becoming a priest later on, etc.) is treated with an unusually high level of respect in terms of both its portrayal and in how it's just a part of their lives. In other words, this was fantastic in pretty much all respects.

Literally the only reason that I didn't give this a perfect score was the ending, because for some reason they really rushed, changed, and cut it (plus, there were a few other explanations that they confusingly skipped earlier on, too). In the anime, they use the
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: annoying 'separation with no contact until chance brings about a reunion' trope at the end (seriously, would none of the three have even sent *one* letter to each other {or at least the two guys to Ritsuko, if nothing else, as she stayed in her hometown and could still have presumably been easily contacted} over the course of 8 years? ), plus zero resolution on whether Kaoru and Ritsuko ever got together after the reunion, among other things... which is really just rather bizarre, because in the source manga, not only
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: is the scene on the bridge near the end better, *and* the aftermath past Sen's disappearance much more in-depth, but it turns out that the characters actually *did* keep in contact, and the resolution there is much better and MUCH more satisfying (including the relationship between Kaoru and Ritsuko, plus extra with the 'Bonus Track' epilogue). Why on earth would anyone think that cutting out all that perfect resolution was a good idea?

...That said, despite my deep annoyance at the changed-and-cut-for-literally-no-reason-and-not-for-the-better-either ending , the anime still (impressively) managed to be one of my favorite things I've seen recently-- so I'd still definitely recommend this, just with the caveat that the manga should be read as well.

There have been many analyses of this particular series written by people more eloquent than me, so first let me just confirm that it is indeed brilliant. The MC's blade-sharp observations, jaded cynicism, and genre-awareness (plus even some occasional unreliable narration)-- with his monologues actually spoken out loud for the most part!-- as well as the whip-smart snarkiness of the dialogue between several characters, were all a breath of fresh air. Also, the characters' body language and eyes are distinctly expressive-- especially the MC's, with the differences in his eye expressions showing his engagement level gradually change throughout. (...Plus, most amusing trap since Steins;Gate! ) In all seriousness, though, the main point of the show is that these kids (the MC in particular) have built up self-destructive (and even destructive-to-others) shells around themselves and don't let anyone else in, and how that unhealthy defense mechanism/worldview begins to be broken apart over the course of both seasons. Plus, even the side-characters play with their tropes (for example, Yukino's sister turns out to actually be pretty nasty, and Hayama turns out to have more depth in his shallowness than I ever expected; etc.). And the ending is surprisingly fitting, too (especially since the source novels go beyond this point). In all, ...SNAFU (or whatever else you'd like to call it) is a fantastic, don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover series, and I definitely recommend it!

MangaRocks, you've seen some stuff I have! You read and watch so widely that usually I have nothing to say about what you're reporting back on. But I loved Chihayafuru, Clannad, and Kids on the Slope.

For Clannad . . . this was one of the first anime series I watched. Not the very first, but one of the first ones. So I don't know if I could defend it adequately. My guess is that the humor clicked with me in a way it didn't with you. For me, there was a moment in an early episode where Tomoya picks up a cat and says "That was the moment that Sunahara (sp?) became a pervert." And I remember that as the moment that I knew that I wanted to keep watching. Something about Tomoya narrating the story TO A CAT just cracked me up. I did watch it in the dub, and maybe that made a difference. I don't know. I just know that the show had moments that cracked me up, and moments that made me teary. I found the proposal in Afterstory to be very moving. And what you see as lack of romance between the characters, I see as a result of Nagisa's reserve and Tomoya's abusive childhood. I thought they did love each other very much but were not very expressive. It didn't seem like a flaw in the writing so much as a part of their characters.

I never did fully understand the ending to Afterstory, though, so I'm no help there. I do agree with you that Nagisa's parents were awesome; possibly the best anime parents I can think of.

As for Kids on the Slope, I remember watching that as it aired and the general consensus was that the pacing at the end of the series was too rushed. So that's not just you.

What I'm watching right now: Higurashi: When they Cry. That's it! But it's only just in the last few weeks that I've taken the time to watch ANY anime, so it's a lot of fun to have something to watch.

I have been watching Silver Spoon. A slice of life that is set the most unusual context, for any that it is anime: a small country side Animal Science College. I like it a lot, because it is refreshing, amusing and make you think about other aspects of life.

Rewatching Fairy Tail after a few years. I'd only made it to the Key of the Starry Heavens arc, and now that it's officially finished I'm finally planning to finish the whole thing.

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I'm not sure how to feel about the 7 year gap, honestly. It was a bold and interesting move to make, but admittedly all of the differences makes me sad. And I don't like the way that they definitively separated the "important people" (those who went to Tenrou) and those who weren't. That aside, it's still such a fun show.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? -Micah 6:8 KJVThey have shewed thee, O teen, what is good; and what doth the world require of thee, but to fit in, be wealthy, have good looks, and be rebellious? -Peer Pressure 1:1"I hate milk; it's like drinking vomit." -Edward Elric and me.

ClaecElric4God in regards to Wolfsong - You're the coolness scraped off the top of this morning's ice cream, after being pulled out of a beautiful summer day!

I watched S-Cry-Ed in two days on youtube and want my two days back. That is a really bad action anime. Yes, the fights are cool, but everything else suffered. Characters? Sometimes desperately out of character, or impossible to understand, or so simple it makes me want to gag. Girls? Pretty much useless and only there for the boys of the series, with a few scattered moments of glory. Plot? So many reversals of who's the bad guy, you almost get whiplash trying to keep up! Yikes! I am never doing something like this again, no matter how any fanfiction stories the series is based off of, which was the whole reason I watched it. I need better things to read.

"I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:37-40).Exceptionally Ordinary"No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else." P.T.Barnam

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? -Micah 6:8 KJVThey have shewed thee, O teen, what is good; and what doth the world require of thee, but to fit in, be wealthy, have good looks, and be rebellious? -Peer Pressure 1:1"I hate milk; it's like drinking vomit." -Edward Elric and me.

ClaecElric4God in regards to Wolfsong - You're the coolness scraped off the top of this morning's ice cream, after being pulled out of a beautiful summer day!

Made my way through two anime this week. Hey, I was bored and tired of morning sickness!First, The Irregular at Magic High School. Some parts of it were interesting, like the actual bits of how the magic worked, and the fights and action scenes. The main character is very interesting. Actually, most of the guys are fun characters. But I hate most of the girls! Ugh! All of them pretty, pretty, princesses falling over themselves for the same guy! And there is no visible difference between any of the characters. The teachers look younger than the students sometimes! And So Much Talking. Granted, the plot was usually pretty good and complex, and the art wasn't bad.Second Kakegurui. So much sexual innuendo and fanservice. Two guys in a frankly enormous cast of women who can't seem to keep their hands off each other. So many gag moments. But, the strategies used in the games were interesting, and the main boy character was adorable, and the only sane one. All the other girls were at least slightly crazy, and not the good kind. Watch at your own risk, and you will probably run screaming just after the opening from all the sexual images. Please don't subject yourselves to this anime.I really need better things to watch. I'll probably give up on anime for a whil and go back to my beloved Extreme Makeover Home Edition. At least I'm safe from innuendo there.

"I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:37-40).Exceptionally Ordinary"No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else." P.T.Barnam

I'm watching Darling in the Franxx. I started watching it for only the art style and the fact that Studio Trigger made it. Unfortunately, I can't really seem to get into it. Aside from the lackluster plot, I just feel irritated by the fanservice and how in your face it is. I'll try to finish it I guess to see if the story gets better.

I started watching My Hero Academia Season 3!! I miss this show so much, all of the characters, the story arcs, the wondrous powers the cast possess'. The first couple of episodes are so good, I can't wait to see what happens next. I'm looking forward to the character development Kota hopefully goes through, thanks to Deku.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”-Oscar Wilde

“Books change us. Books save us. I know this because it happened to me.”Elif Shafak

I watched a bit more Fairy Tail last week due to the fact that my best friend, who is obsessed with it, visited me for a week and we had a marvelous time. Shook my head at some of the character stupidity, but I'm looking forward to seeing more.Also tried Katekyo Hitman Reborn, but it has that funny everything quality that One Piece also has, meaning I gave up on it after seven episodes. I liked the main character well enough, but I like a bit more serious stuff in my shows.

"I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:37-40).Exceptionally Ordinary"No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else." P.T.Barnam

Picked up the Blu-ray of Interstella 5555 (the collabouration between Leiji Matsumoto and Daft Punk). The trick is finding a player that will play it (weird 1080i/25 encoding); my Linux box doesn't like it. I'll have to try it on the region-free PAL-compatible player we have in the home theatre.

"you're a doctor.... and 27 years.... so...doctor + 27 years = HATORI SOHMA" - RoyalWing, when I was 27"Al hail the forum editting Shooby! His vibes are law!" - Osaka-chan

I could still be champ, but I'd feel bad taking it away from one of the younger guys. - George Foreman

...So, I'm back with all the New-To-Me stuff I've watched since the last time I posted, which was WAY too long ago, LOL. Massive wall-of-text incoming...

Akira movie (sub):

...Huh. Well, I have to admit, for a full *40 minutes* , I was seriously wondering what all the hype was about. I mean, I know that back in the day this sort of thing was revolutionary for Western audiences, and the impressive art does (rather amazingly) still hold its own even now, 30 years on. However, some of the violence and the one scene of detailed upper female nudity is rather gratuitous; it gets pretty darn weird at times ; the pacing is far too loose and disjointed (this film really should have had a good editor...); and it is extremely difficult to connect to either the unlikable, shallow, inconsistent characters or the barely-even-there plot. Now, that said, once it finally hit that 40-or-so-min. mark, the pacing and plot (what there is of it, at any rate ) did snap into place, the visual quality shot through the roof, and it finally managed to keep me fully engaged from there until a few mins. before the end... at which unfortunate point the pacing anticlimactically became disjointed once more (and some of what the heck even happened in the end is unclear, to boot)... which led me back to wondering what all the hype was about. Again. Basically, if you want to watch a visually impressive anime with some occasional violence, there are now plenty of others that contain not only that but *also* some actual depth of character and plot, so other than for historical value, I would not recommend this. *shrug*

Finally finished the ZnT anime-- which I had put on hold partway through as it was airing a few years ago after being somewhat annoyed by its 'adaptation' of the {excellent!} source material-- just to finally get it out of the on-hold section of my list... and, well... my opinion didn't change, LOL. I mean, it's not like its adaptation was outright horrible or anything (like some others I could name *cough*ERASED*cough*, etc. ), it's just that it added/changed scenes unnecessarily (usually just to create a lot of extra fanservice not originally present, too ), had some serious pacing problems at times, somehow turned one of the most intense scenes in the manga--
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Yashiro's pretty darn spectacular
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: breakdown, which I had justifiably expected to be made even better with the addition of voice acting-- into... something really *not* intense at all (?!) , and even cut out the entire epilogue! To sum it up, this was a mediocre adaptation of an excellent manga, so please just go read the manga instead if you're thinking of watching this, or read it *also* if you already *have* seen this, LOL.

Blood+ ep.'s 1-50 (sub, complete):

First things first: Yes, this has 50 episodes, however it actually doesn't feel too long at all-- in fact, the pacing feels just right. It is very well-directed and animated for its time; uses "show, don't tell" brilliantly (until verbal explanations are actually needed, of course); its 'vampires' are quite different from their usual portrayal nowadays (their true forms are essentially terrifying gargoyles!); and the atmosphere, characters, relationships, action, and plot are all very engaging. (Plus, the secondary MC plays a cello, and you can't beat that, right? ) As for content, well, plenty of the item in the title is spilled, LOL , but to my pleasant surprise it was never gratuitous; and while the whole forced-human-experimentation angle is certainly pretty dang disturbing in both idea and scope, the only thing that's actually *shown* being 'done' to any of the subjects onscreen is merely a completely-innocuous-looking
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: blood transfusion, or having them take 'medicine' tablets, etc.... so, essentially, there's really only *one* big singular content issue I need to mention-- namely, that at one point in the show a young teen boy is rather shockingly
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: raped offscreen by a female villain-- and purposefully right in front of his incapacitated-yet-fully-conscious sibling, no less. Nothing is directly shown onscreen, thankfully
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: (the female character slips off her dress but nothing at all is shown, and the scene cuts away before she disrobes the boy; he *is* shown sans clothing later, but from the side only, so nothing critical is seen there either), but it is still a plot point, so I did have to mention it. That aside, however, it's an excellent anime; indeed, even with that one plot point's existence, Blood+ is so good overall that I wouldn't even hesitate to recommend it regardless. (Oh, and be sure to watch through the credits of the final ep. for a very important epilogue scene! )

This is an interesting nonlinear psychological series with bits of the supernatural aptly woven directly into its madness. (I can't really describe it much beyond that, because it would either be spoilery or completely unnecessary. Just trust me that it's quite well-done. ) The themes/violence can get a tad disturbing on occasion (though, technically, the visuals still never really got as graphic as even something like, say, Baccano!; so YMMV), but otherwise there were no real glaring content issues. One thing to note in terms of comprehension is that is series is (apparently) actually supposed to be a sequel to the first arc of the original Boogiepop novels (which are not only now licensed, but which the new revival anime is also supposedly going to cover), so many of the former characters and events that were in that novel and which end up being referenced in this particular anime are given only the barest of glossing over via tiny flashbacks (as you're expected to have already read, and thus known, about said characters/events)... however, if this is indeed your first introduction to the franchise, even those hints are enough to form just enough of a frame of reference when needed, so don't worry about the order you read/watch this in.

Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! OVA (sub):

This was kind-of billed as the conclusion of the series (well, for this group of characters, at least; there is also a spinoff series with new characters that just aired this year and which I'll be getting around to soon ), so-- rather surprisingly-- a good chunk of this was actually recap, but at least it was cleverly done. As expected, the characters make fun of it , and the insert songs that play over the scenes are hilarious. In the end, the few new scenes don't provide any extra closure that the main series' S2 ending didn't already provide, but it was an amusing enough extra, so whatever.

Humanity Has Declined ep.'s 1-12 (sub, complete):

This is quite a unique series. It has some purposefully bizarre/surreal elements and contrasts, contains hilarious (and occasionally slightly disturbing, as well, LOL, yet somehow not in a bad way? ) dark and meta humor, is very surprisingly feel-good at times, and features a wonderfully cynical and deceptively clever female MC. Now, since each of the series' stories are told out of chronological order with each other, it does have a slightly abrupt ending (as the last story is actually mostly a prequel)-- although there is definitely some emotional resolution on the MC's part-- and the very last line does feel a bit like "Okay, go read the novels now!", LOL; however, the aforementioned emotional resolution was pretty satisfying on its own, and it was a fun watch overall. TL;DR: I never realized how much I'd enjoy watching a cheerful nonlinear post-apocalyptic black comedy until I'd seen this, so yeah, it was good.

Iblard Jikan OVA:

This has no story and no (discernible) dialogue (though a few characters do wind their way through it), but what it does do is showcase a wonderfully fantastical world that looks like it's drawn in (astonishingly detailed) pencil. Indeed, every scene is (quite literally) a work of art. Plus, it starts off very calming and almost mundane (if one can call this level of art such a thing), then gets increasingly fascinating as the sci-fi/fantasy nature of the world is revealed, then back to calming for a nice full-circle finish. Definitely worth a watch once.

Interstella5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem movie (sub):

...Yes, this is essentially just one long music video for Daft Punk's entire Discovery album, but it's a good one, even if it is pretty cheesy at times, LOL. It's worth a watch once for sure, at least.

Kakurenbo short movie (sub):

This was a 25-min. mild horror film featuring a hide-and-seek game gone very wrong, LOL. It's not *scary,* per se, and is easily predictable until one nicely chilling little twist at the end, but it was definitely a decent watch nonetheless.

Katanagatari ep.'s 1-12 (sub, complete):

OH. MY. GOODNESS. This was excellent!! Now, before anything else, I do have to preface this with the fact that one of the story's major themes is 'failure'-- pretty much *all* of the characters' goals (and many of their lives) are either completely destroyed, dismissed, or otherwise made moot-- and it was probably a good thing that I had known about that ahead of time thanks to a review, because it put me in the right mindset for some of the events. That said, on to why it was so good: The wonderfully stylized art (and the animation of it) is beautiful; the 2 main characters (who are actually both in their 20's, for once!) are really likeable (if in rather unique ways , and with very grey morality {...along with all of the other characters-- none of them, the MC's included, are 'good'; they're just interesting}), including the female MC being quite intelligent and working her way up to her current position via that intelligence, and the slow and subtly-building character development for both of the MC's over the course of the entire show; the writing is entertaining, toys *wickedly* with your expectations (+ including some bitter, piercing irony) at just the right times (hint: watch all of the next-episode previews, because it's literally the only glimpse you'll even get of one of the events, LOL), and is somewhat self-aware (for actual plot reasons, no less!) in very incisive ways; and the whole show was both engaging enough and had perfect enough pacing that I literally didn't even notice at first that all the episodes were double-length! Plus, as for those themes I mentioned earlier, not only is the consistent, overall theme of failure quite unique, but the meta commentary on apathy towards violence and even 'history' itself was thought-provoking as well. Indeed, this series left me thinking about it for a long, long time after I had finished watching it, and I absolutely recommend it!

Little Nemo movie (dub):

Meh. The 'plot' is barely there, and it's very much a "kids' movie" (well, minus the cigar-smoking {...what??} ), but the art and animation is quite nice for its time, and it's at least cleverly directed to be dreamlike overall (it's whimsical, illogical, changes settings and scenes with no warning or apparent reason, and features both fear and fun in alternating bouts). Not something I'd be likely to watch again though.

Lu Over The Wall movie (sub):

OH MY GOSH-- this is basically what Ponyo would have been had it actually been any good! Seriously, though, Lu Over The Wall is awesome-- it's wonderfully imaginative (including a *VERY* unique take on mermaids--
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: vampiristic, plus with magical dancing powers! ), adorable, hilarious at just the right points, has musician protagonists , has a (mostly ) coherent story (which is also mercifully devoid of any heavy-handed evolution/environmental weirdness, unlike that *other* movie mentioned earlier... ), and is beautifully presented. Now, all that said, this movie isn't *perfect*-- for example, the last segment of the story feels a bit rushed, and the open ending is rather annoying (to me, at least ). Overall, though, it was heartwarming and just plain fantastic-- so if you haven't seen it yet, then I heartily recommend that you do so right now!

Mizu no Kotoba OVA (sub):

This is a prior work from the creator of The Time Of Eve-- actually, it seems rather like a prototype for it, featuring a bar and little glimpses of the customers' lives, though with a different emphasis and an extra twist-- and it was a neat and imaginative little episode. Good watch.

This is ostensibly a murder mystery (with a few sci-fi elements and a whole lot of supernatural Japanese folklore mixed in), but it's one of the most surreal mysteries I've seen to date (and that's actually a good thing here). First, everything is so well-crafted, from the animation to the characters' body language to (particularly) the directing-- indeed, the visuals utilize techniques often reserved only for live-action camerawork, yet which also use the freedom of the animated medium to full effect at the same time, blurring the line between what's 'real' and what's not, often in a very creepy way (which works perfectly, as several of the main characters have mental health issues {or, in the case of the villain, are just outright insane} ). Also, continuing with the discussion of the surreal elements, the first few episodes don't make much sense at first-- for example, it took me until episode 5 to figure out that certain scenes were
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: actually just depictions of parts of some in-universe novels written by the characters (...though, in my defense,
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: when one of the characters is reading them, he mentally projects himself and those he knows into the *novel*-characters' roles... which was a very deliberate choice on the part of this show's creators, as it both brilliantly misdirects the viewer initially plus
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: reveals the mental instability of said character, all at the same time)-- however, things that initially seem to have no connection nor relevance to the main plot at hand masterfully weave together as it goes. (Also, once you start noticing the square/rectangle/box imagery cleverly incorporated everywhere, it gets even creepier, because of... reasons. ) And I wasn't originally expecting its supernatural folklore element (nor the eventual sci-fi element) to be quite so big a plot point, but in the show's internal logic it actually does make quite a bit of sense. As for the 15-or-so-minute special, it features mostly all-new scenes plus some extended ones from the show that flesh out a few more little details in the plot (and one character as well), so it is a good idea to watch that as well if you choose to watch the main series.

Man, what more can I even say about the Natsume... series at this point? These are so beautiful in such a heart-squeezing way (especially the latter two)... so good! <3

Pale Cocoon OVA (sub):

Like Mizu no Kotoba, this is another prior work from the creator of The Time Of Eve. I won't spoil the story of this one, but suffice it to say that it's sci-fi, the directing is superb, and overall it's great.

Paranoia Agent, a.k.a. Mousou Dairinin, ep.'s 1-13 (sub, complete):

This is somewhat fascinating because all of the characters are mentally unstable at best (and genuinely mentally ill at worst), so they're all unreliable narrators (and that includes the *visuals* as well as their thoughts/actions/words). However, due to some of the content (a couple of instances of detailed upper female nudity; prostitution; gleeful suicide; etc.), the somewhat-unsatisfying ending, and it definitely not being as good as Satoshi Kon's other works, I'm not sure I'd really recommend it (at least over his other stuff, at any rate). *shrug*

Road To You: Kimi e to Tsuzuku Michi promotional short ONA (sub):

Hmm... well, it's basically a cute little snapshot of the lives of three groups (two romantic and one familial), and there are some very pretty visuals at the end; it's a decent enough 3-or-so minutes of time, but it's quite forgettable after that. (That said, it was actually meant to be a commercial for car tires, LOL, so it having any interest at *all* is a miracle in the first place, LOL. )

Senyuu. S1-S2 (ep.'s 1-26) shorts (sub, complete):

Eh... IMO this wasn't anywhere near as funny as some of its reviews made it sound; but, then again, that could just be me, as I usually much prefer sitcoms and/or sarcastic/satirical dialogue and wit over outright silliness and slapstick (the latter of which being what Senyuu. consists of-- plus some 4th-wall-breaking, parody, and visual gags, as well). It tries to have a plot at the end, too, but that didn't work well. I mean, the show did get a few snorts from me here and there, but only a scant couple of real laughs (although I did enjoy it poking fun at the monologuing/name-shouting tropes on occasion), and the ending annoyed me with how it... well, *didn't* end (at all!) and was so blatantly a "...now go read the manga to finish it, kids!" sort of deal (which I usually would've done anyway, but seriously just couldn't care enough to bother with doing this time), so yeah... this gets a solid "Meh..." from me. IMO, don't bother with this one. *shrug*

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 episodes 1-5 (sub, DROPPED):

Okay... I know this was originally released as a movie series, which was then divided up into episodes later on; but if it takes until well more than halfway through the first episode to become even *remotely* interesting despite that entire screentime consisting of one big space battle, you know you've got some major pacing problems. Actually, the entire first movie has some wonky pacing and editing issues in general; there's a really inordinate amount of technobabble (and *far* more explaining and then doubling down and *confirming* those explanations than actually doing any of the explained actions! ); certain plot points happened way too conveniently for me to suspend my disbelief ; and I couldn't even manage to connect with any of the characters... so by ep. 5 I just gave up. _ _ Oh well.

This is a really underrated show. I suppose I can see why it might have disappointed those who were expecting an actual detective story (LOL), or at least a somewhat normal mystery series-- as there's actually not a lot of 'detecting' in this (and when the MC's silent mental deductions are finally revealed, it's usually only after already being 'confirmed' by his inhuman partner's powers anyway, except in the final arc), and the cases' 'mysteries' are really only 'standard' at best, most of the time-- however, I had fortunately gone into this with no preconceptions/expectations about it whatsoever, and was thus actually pleasantly surprised when it turned out to really just be more of a supernatural-flavored dystopian sci-fi with some interesting character dynamics than anything else. Plus, there was just something about the way everything throughout all of the cases-- namely: The realization of what kind of society the characters in this show were now living in; the MC's natures, backstories, and relationships/interactions with each other; the way the system was so incredibly (and purposefully!) truth-suppressant and deceitful, and yet the MC always tried (not always successfully, though, but I liked that, since it was more realistic that way) to secretly leave one small bright spot of truth behind him even in the most unfair of situations (for a reason finally explained right at the end)-- there was just something in the way all of that was so naturally revealed and built up to its big overarching conclusion, as well as just something about the two MC's themselves, that kept me engaged from start to finish (especially in the series' latter half). Indeed, it's quite clear that the show's 'mystery' elements were merely just the means to the end of its real storytelling, and IMO that worked just fine. ...Now, all that said, I am definitely NOT claiming that this is a masterpiece or anything like that, LOL -- *however,* it's better than it has often been given credit for, and I enjoyed it.

And, finally, the Vampire Hunter D (2000): Bloodlust movie (sub):

Hmm... well, the art is certainly quite beautiful; and while the plot is extremely typical and predictable, it was well-done enough that it somehow was not boring; so it was worth a watch once I guess.

I dug my teeth into Hayate the Combat Butler on a whim. It's funny, fun, and not very fanservicey, but not a whole lot of fun for someone who likes more serious shows over comedic ones. Still, not a bad ride for a while.

"I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:37-40).Exceptionally Ordinary"No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else." P.T.Barnam